Sunday was a celebratory occasion at Tempe. After a heartbreaking loss to Utah, the Sun Devils found their footing again and punched right back at the Red Raiders, 26-22. Cheers erupted from the stadium, with Kenny Dillingham bailing his post-game interview to join the sea of merry crowds, storming past the field. But the jolly cause turned into a bittersweet experience as the Big 12 brought down its hammer once again.

Remember how the Red Raiders were fined by the conference recently, at a game against the Jayhawks at Lubbock, for non-accordance with the league policy? Similarly, over the weekend, Arizona State was fined a whopping $50,000 for storming the field.

“In accordance with the Big 12 Conference Principles and Standards of Sportsmanship, the Conference has issued a public reprimand and $50,000 fine of Arizona State University for the field storming incident that occurred during Saturday’s football game against Texas Tech,” the Big 12 wrote.

With tears rolling down his cheek, for an emotional Kenny Dillingham, the win meant a ton.

The Devils entered the stadium as 7.5-point underdogs. In the final fleeting minutes of the fourth quarter, the Red Raiders had the lead, 22-19. But the Devils never let their spirits down. A game-winning touchdown made all the difference. Remember the one-yard line touchdown with 34 seconds left on the clock in the fourth quarter? The Devils were this close to getting handed down another defeat, but running back Raleek Brown’s 1-yard rush saved the day.

A bright yellow video board disclaimed the fans, “Entering the playing surface at any time is strictly prohibited,” but as soon as the 1-yard rush was plugged into the end zone, the goalposts were down, and a sea of gold and maroon greeted the eyes. The intensity of emotions might be what led the sentimental fans to sweep across the field, as cheers of ‘ASU’ echoed around the stadium.

Following the win, Kenny Dillingham’s program returned to the AP Top 25 poll, placed at No. 24.

Although the field storming incident might have given a $50,000 headache to Arizona State, fans’ outpouring love for their program reserves a tender spot for the Devils.

Kenny Dillingham praises fans

Even after the Utah loss, the fans were present to support their team back at the stadium, clad in gold and maroon. “The fans to show up the way they did,” Dillingham said. “Our players to not cower. You know when you have a loss like that (Utah), you can go down a rabbit hole. A lot of people go down a rabbit hole whether that’s football or life … And our guys didn’t go down a rabbit hole.”

After being absent from the Utah game, owing to a foot injury, QB Sam Leavitt completed 28-of-47 attempts for 319 yards and one touchdown against Texas Tech. Even Joey McQuire was impressed with Leavitt and his roster’s last-minute resilience. “That quarterback changes everything; He’s a difference-maker.” Post-game, the QB was all smiles and made a surprising statement regarding the anxiety-inducing last-minute moment.

“Going into that two-minute [drill], there wasn’t too much worry there.” And Dillingham? Beaming with pride. “I’ve never been around a guy who just works to win football games as much as he does, and in the biggest moments, he makes the biggest plays.” The loss against Utah provided much-needed adrenaline to win against Texas Tech. “We only won this game because we were so embarrassed that our guys had a different level of intensity and focus, and we found it,” the head coach added.

Coming up next, Arizona State will travel to Houston. ESPN analytics has the Sun Devils as favorites with 71.8%, and they will need the fans support to keep the winning streak alive.